Stopper-lock for bottles.



, 'J. L. PETERS. STOPPER LOOK FOR BOTTLES.

.AFILIOATION FILED JUNE 16, I908.

Patented June 8, 1909.

JEREMIAH L. PETERS, OF ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

STOPPER-LOCK FOR BOTTLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed-Tune 15, 1908.

Patented Tune 8, 1909.

Serial No. 438,657.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JEREMIAH L. Pnrnns, a citizen of the United States,residing at Allentown, in the county of Lehigh and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Stopper -Lock for Bottles,of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to improvements in stopper locks forbottles, and is designed to provide a cap for bottles which may besecurely locked in place so as to prevent the removal of the bottleclosure except by a person familiar with the combination of the lockemployed, or is in possession of means for manipulating the lock whenthe lock is not of the combination type.

The invention is particularly useful when it is desirable to preventunauthorized use of the contents of bottles, or where it is desirable toprevent access to the contents of bottles where such contents are of adangerous character, as, for instance, when they are of a poisonousnature.

The invention comprises essentially a removable cap for the neck of abottle, which cap when in place will prevent the removal of the cork ofthe bottle and which cap is readily applied to or removed from the neckof any of the ordinary types of bottles.

In accordance with the present invention, the cap is provided withfingers adapted to engage behind the ordinary flange surrounding themouth of the neck of the bottle, and these fingers are caused to graspthe neck of the bottle behind the flange when the cap is placed upon thebottle neck, and these fingers become locked to the bottle neck so thatthe cap cannot be removed therefrom except when the cap is in theunlocked position.

Any suitable type of locking means may" be employed in connection withthe cap for retaining the locking fingers which grasp the neck of thebottle behind the flange but in the preferred form of the invention apermutation lock may be employed since this avoids the use of keys orother such implements and the entire cap is therefore self contained.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration of thefollowing detailed description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing, forming a part of this specification, in which drawings,

Figure 1 is an elevation of the neck end of a bottle with the improvedcap applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a central section through the cap withthe bottle neck shown in elevation. Fig. 8 is a perspective view of thelocking members of the cap with the parts separated. Fig. 4 is aperspective view of a sliding member for actuating the spring lockingfingers.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a bottle 1 which may be takenas typical of any bottle provided with a neck 2, which latter terminatesin an annular flange or rib 3 or other enlargement surrounding the mouthof the bottle neck, and the cork is indicated at 4. It will beunderstood that While in the drawings a very common form of bottle neckis shown, this is to be taken as illustrative of any one of a greatvariety of forms of bottle necks, the invention being applicable withoutchange to all the commoner forms of bottles.

There is provided a sleeve 5 separately shown in Fig. 4, and this sleeveis open at each end and is provided at one end with an inwardly turnedradial flange 6 which, however, is cut away at one point in itscircumference as indicated at 7, and this cut away portion matches anotch or recess 8 in the body of the sleeve 5. The other end of thesleeve is formed with an exterior annular strengthening rib 9, althoughif desired this rib may be omitted, and extending longitudinallythroughout the greater portion of the length of the sleeve at one sidethereof is a slot 10 extending to that end of the sleeve on which'isformed the rib 9.

Within the sleeve there is a movable head '11, the exterior diameter ofwhich is such as to permit the head to move freely within the sleeve inthe direction of the longitudinal axis thereof, while at the same timethis head is substantially centered in the sleeve by a moderately closefit in said sleeve.

The head 11 has fast thereto on one face an annular series of springfingers 12, which fingers may be separately formed and suitably securedto the head, or may all be struck up from a single piece of sheet metal,and then properly secured to the head as by soldering or otherwise.These spring fingers are made to normally diverge one from the othertoward their free ends, which free ends are formed into inwardlydirected teeth 13 made either by simply turning over the ends of thefingers, or by thickening the ends of the fingers to form the inwardlydirected teeth radial to the axis of the series.

The normal tendency of the fingers 12 is to separate these fingers in aradial outward direction to an extent sufficient to permit them to passeasily over the flange 3 on the free end of the bottle neck and theinternal diameter of the sleeve 5 is such as to cause these fingers toapproach when engaged by said sleeve to a sufficient extent to becomefirmly locked behind the flange or rib 3 of the bottle neck.

In the operation of the device, there is a relative longitudinalmovement between the sleeve 5 and the fingers 12 carried by the head 11so that when the rib end of the sleeve 5 is moved toward the head 11,the fingers will be caused to project beyond the said rib or open end ofthe sleeve, and their resiliency will cause them to expand and spreadaway one from the other, but when the sleeve 5 is moved toward the freeends of the fingers, the engagement of the sleeve with the fingers as itapproaches the toothed ends of these fingers will cause the fingers tobe moved readily inward until the toothed ends are entirely housedwithin the corresponding end of the sleeve 5.

Projecting from that face of the head 11 remote from the springs 12 andcentral thereto is a stem lt carrying at its outer end a cylindrical cap15 formed with a cylindrical extension 16 concentric with the stem 1%and projecting toward the head 11 and of such diameter and length as toinclose the end of the sleeve 5 provided with the flange (3. Thatportion of the cap 15 where it merges into the cylindrical extension 16is formed with a bead 17 which may be milled on its exterior forconvenience of manipulation, as will presently appear. The free end ofthe extension 16 is formed with sinuosities in the form of an annularseries of rounded indentations 18, and each one of these indentations isprovided with some characteristic designation which may take the form ofa letter, as indicated in the drawings, or a numeral, or any other meansfor identifying particular indentations. Nor is it necessar that theseries of indentations in the edge of the cylindrical extension 16 becontinuous, or if continuous be equally spaced, but it is preferred thatthese indentations be both equally spaced and continuous throughout thecircumference of the free end of the extension 16.

Fast on the head 11 or an adjacent portion of the spring fingers 12 is apin 19 in fixed relation to the said head or spring fingers, andimmediately adjacent to the pin 19 is another pin 20 formed with anelastic extension 21, the end of which is made fast to the head 11 orspring lingers 12 at. an appro priate point. The construction of thesetwo pins is such that the pin 20 is normally re moved a short distancefrom the pin 19 and both pins project radially from the head 11 oradjacent parts and extend through the slot 10 in the sleeve to theexterior thereof, although it is not necessary that the pin it) extendentirely through the said slot 10. The pin 20 is of sufficient length tobe engaged by the free edge of the extension it; of the cap 15, and inthe operation of the device the rotation of the cap 15 about the stem 1f as an axis will cause the pin 20 to snap into any one of the notches18 which may be coincident with it, while the rounded form of thesenotches will permit: the turning of the cap 15 about its axis with butlittle effort on the part of the operator.

In order that the cap 15 may be retained in its proper relation to thestem l t and still be rotatable thereon, the outer end of the stem 1% isextended through the center of the cap 15, and beyond the same isexpanded into a head or flange 22 fast on the stem 14, and interior tothe cap is a washer or plate 23 fast on the inner face of the cap 15.

Loosely mounted on the stem 14: are a number of disks 24-, 25, 26, thenumber of disks being shown in the drawings as three, but it will beunderstood that this is illustrative only, since a greater or lessnumber of disks may be used, but for convenience of description it willbe assumed that three disks are employed.

In the particular arrangement shown in the drawings, the disk isprovided with a curved slot 27 concentric with the axis of the disk. Thedisk 25 is shown as provided with a curved slot 28 concentric with theof the disk and disposed at the same distance therefrom in a. radialdirection as is the slot 27 of the disk 24, while the disk 26 isprovided with a slot 29 similarly disposed as are the slots 27 and 28 intheir respective disks. In the particular structure shown in thedrawings, the slot. 27 is comparatively short, while the slot 28 ismaterially longer than the slot 27 and the slot 25) is materially longerthan the slot 28. Each disk is cut away on one side to form a straightportion 30 and these straight pen tions 30 of the several disks arealike but may or may not be in the same relative position to therespective slots 27, 2S and 25 The head 11 on one side is notched orrecessed as shown at 31 for the passage of the arm of a spring catch 38,the said arm 82 being returned on itself for a dis tance and slotted orotherwise secured to the head 11, or to an adjacent portion of one ofthe spring fingers 12. The catch 33 which in the present instance isshown in the form of a tooth on the end of the arm 32 projects beyondthe face of the head 11 remote from the spring arms 12, and the catch ortooth 33 is so located as to engage over the edge of the sleeve 5 at thenotch or recess 8 when the spring fingers 12 are housed within the saidsleeve 5, the tendency of the spring arm 32 being to carry the catch ortooth 33 away from operative engagement with the sleeve 5 and into thenotch or recess 31 in the head 11 and the tooth or catch 33 is onlyforced into operative engagement with the sleeve 5 against the action ofthe spring arm 32 under conditions which will presently appear. When thespring arms 12 are housed within the sleeve 5 then the disks 24, 25 and26 are confined between the flange 6 of the sleeve 5 and the head 11,and under these conditions a finger3t carried by the washer 23 andprojecting parallel with the stem 14 extends through the several slots27, 28 and 29 and into engagement with the correspond ing face of thehead 11. This finger prevents longitudinal movement of the cap 15 on thestem 14, because of its engagement with the head 11, but does notinterfere with the rotative movement of the cap upon said stem.

If it be assumed that the several disks 24, 25 and 26 are in thepositions when their flat portions 30 are all coincident and inoperative relation to the spring arm 32, then any rotative movement ofany one or more of the disks 24, 25 and 26 will force the spring or arm32 against its normal tendency and will carry the tooth or catch 33 intooperative relation to the sleeve 5 at the notch or recess 8 and whenthis catch is in engagement with the sleeve 5, the head 11 is held inclosed relation to the flange 6 with the several disks 24, 25 and 26confined in the space between the head 11 and flange 6 and with thetoothed ends 13 of the spring fingers 12 all housed within the other endof the sleeve 5 and therefore in their positions of close approach tothe longitudinal axis of the sleeve 5.

By rotating the cap 15 for an appropriate distance in an appropriatedirection, the flat portion 30 of the disk 26 will be brought back ofthe spring arm 32. Then by rotating the cap 15 inthe opposite directionfor an appropriate distance, the flat portion 30 of the disk 25 will bebrought into coincidence with the spring arm 32, and finally the furtherrotation of the cap 15 in the appropriate direction, the flat portion 30of the disk 27 will be brought into coincidence with the spring arm 32,so that the latter is then free to move into the recess 31 away from itsengagement with the sleeve 5, thus unlocking the said sleeve from thehead 11. The cap 15 together with the head 11 and spring arms 12 may nowbe moved longitudinally with reference to the sleeve 5 so that thetoothed ends 13 of the arms 12 are projected from the corresponding endof the sleeve 5 when their resiliency will cause them to move upwardaway from the axis of the sleeve 5, thus expanding the several toothedends of the said arms.

When the parts are in the position last described, that is when thespring arms 12 are projected beyond the corresponding end of the sleeve5, and are expanded, the distance between the teeth 13 is sufficient topermit the entire structure to be placed over the neck of a bottle inwhich a cork has been properly inserted, and then by moving the sleeve 5toward the toothed ends of the fingers 12, these fingers are retractedabout the neck of the bottle and the toothed ends are caused to engagebehind the flange or rib 3 on the neck of the bottle, thus securelylocking the cap to the bottle neck beyond the possibility of removingthe same without destroying the structure. When the sleeve 5 has beenmoved over the spring fingers 12 to a sufficient extent, the catch ortooth 33 on the end of the arm 32 is brought to a position permitting itto be moved readily outward over the end of the sleeve 5 at the notch orrecess 8. Now, by turning the cap 15 in either direction, one or more orall of the disks 24, 25 and 26 are rotated and their flattened portions30 are moved out of coincidence with the spring arm 32, thus forcing thetooth or catch 33 into operative engagement with the sleeve 5. Rotativemovement of the cap 15 is not prevented by the spring pin 20, since thelatter will yield to a moderate force, but the notches 18 coacting withthe spring finger 20 operates as a yielding stop to arrest the cap 1.5at any desired point.

In order to remove the cap after having been first applied and locked inplace, it is necessary for the operator to be aware of the combinationof the look so as to move the cap 15 in the proper directions and to theproper extent to bring all of the disks 24, 25 and 26 into properoperative relation to the spring arm 32, so as to permit the catch 33 tomove away from engagement with the sleeve 5.

While the specific description of the particular embodiment of theinvention shown in the drawings has been confined to the use of acombination or permutation lock for securing the cap in place upon thebottle neck, it will be understood that any type of lock by means ofwhich the spring fingers are held in operative engagement with thebottle neck may be used and therefore the type of lock shown is, in thepreferred aspect of the invention, to be taken as typical of any form oflock for retaining the cap in place against surreptitious removal.

It will be seen that by the present invention the cork or stopperapplied to an ordinary bottle may be locked in place against accidentalor malicious removal while the locking device may be readily andentirely removed from the bottle by any one having knowledge of theproper combination, or in the case of another type of lock, by any onehaving possession of the proper implement for operating the lock.

The pin 19 serves to prevent the sleeve from turning and guides it inits longitudinal movement.

The pin 20 is advantageous in permitting the turning of the cap 15 tothe proper points by simply counting the number of notches passed, sothat the device may be unlocked in the dark if desired or necessary.

iVhile the shown and described means of indicating is to be preferred,any other suitable indicating means may be employed if so desired.

What is claimed is 1. A stopper lock for bottles comprising a headhaving a series of spring fingers adapted to engage the neck of abottle, a sleeve movable along said fingers, a cap member carried by thehead and into which the sleeve is movable, said cap member beingrotatable with reference to the head, and a lock for the sleevecontrolled by the said rotatable cap member.

2. A stopper lock for bottles comprising a head having a series ofspring fingers adapted to engage the neck of a bottle, a sleeve movablealong said fingers, a cap member carried by the head and into which thesleeve is movable, said cap member being rotatable wit-h reference tothe head and pro vided with notches on one edge, means for engaging saidnotched edge to temporarily position the cap, and a lock for the sleevecontrolled by the said rotatable cap member.

3. A stopper lock for bottles comprising a head having a series ofspring fingers adapted to engage the neck of a bottle, a sleeve movablealong said fingers and having a longitudinal slot, a cap member carriedby the head and into which the sleeve is movable, said head having a pinprojecting through the slot in the sleeve, and said cap member beingrotatable with reference to the head and provided on one edge with.notches into which the pin carried by the head engages, and a lock forthe sleeve controlled by the said rotatable cap member.

4:. A stopper lock for bottles comprising a head having a series ofspring fingers adapted to engage the neck of a bottle, a sleeve movablealong said fingers and having a longitudinal. slot, a cap member carried by the head and into which the sleeve is movable, said head havingan elastically mounted pin projecting through the slot in the sleeve,and said cap member being rotatable with reference to the head, andprovided on one edge with notches into which the pin carried by the headengages, and a lock for the sleeve controlled by the rotatable capmember.

5. A stopper lock for bottles comprising a member having a series ofspring fingers adapted to engage the neck of a bottle, a sleeve movablelongitudinally over said fingers, a rotatable cap member into which thesleeve is movable and a permutation lock in the cap member andcontrolled by the rotational movement of the said cap member and adaptedto lock the sleeve when in position to cover the spring fingers.

6. A stopper lock for bottles comprisii'lg an annular series of springfii'igers adapted. to engage the neck of a bottle, said fingers having anormal outward tendency, a carrier for said fingers, a sleeve on saidcarrier and movable relative to said fingers to contract the sameagainst their normal spring tendency, a spring catch upon the carrier,and means for controlling said catch to lock the sleeve and carrier forthe spring fingers together in one position of the sleeve and to releasethe sleeve for movement to another position.

'7. A stopper lock for bottles comprising a head having a series ofspring fingers tending normally away fram each other and adapted toembrace the neck of a bottle, a. cap carried by said head, a sleevemovable longitudinally over the spring fingers and into the cap, a latchmember in the cap having a normal tendency to move to a position toleave the sleeve unlocked, and a. lock in the cap for moving the latchmember against its normal tendency to lock the sleeve when covering thespring fingers.

8. A stopper lock for bottles con'iprising a head having a series ofspring lingers tending normally away from each other and adapted toembrace the neck of a bottle, a rotatable cap carried by said head, asleeve movable longitudinally over the spring fingers and into the cap,a latch member in the cap having a normal tendency to move to a positionto leave the sleeve unlocked, and lock in the cap for moving the latchmember against the normal tendency to lock the sleeve when covering thespring fingers, said lock comprising rotatable tumblers movable by thecap and engaging the latch exceptin a predetermined position.

9. A stopper lock for bottles comprising an annular series of springlingers having a normal outward tendency, a head to carry said fingers,a stem projecting from the head, a sleeve carried by said head andmovable longitudinally with reference to said spring fingers exteriorthereto, a cap carried by the stem and into which the sleeve is movable,a series of permutation members In testimony that I claim the foregoingcarried by the stem, means carried by the as my own, I have heretoafiixed. my signacap for controlling said permutation mem ture in thepresence of two Witnesses.

bers, and a locking member carried by the JEREMIAH L. PETERS. head andunder the control of the permuta- Witnesses: tion members for lockingthe sleeve to said JAs. M. WALKER,

head. M. E. COLLIE.

